Leer stacker



E. H. LORENZ LEER STACKER May 10, 1932.

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Patented May 10, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWARD H. LORENZ, or wnsr nan'rronn, connnczrrconnssrcnon' 'ro m'rronn- EMPIRE COMPANY, or nan'rronn, commc'rrcur, a coarom'rron or DELAWARE" nnn. sraoxna Application flled November 88, 18 29. Serial No. 410,295. Y

My invention relates to the mar ware handling, and more particularly to a novel apparatus for stacking articles of glassware in rows transversely of a conveyor, as for example, the belt of a glass annealing leer.

In stacking articles of glassware in a leer,

the common practice is to carry these on a continuously moving conveyor from the forming machine to the leer and across the entrance end thereof, and to push them from the conveyor onto the leer belt with a bar extending substantially across the leer- This bar may be actuated at timed intervals or may be tripped by the ware at proper times.

Ware arrivingon such a conveyor is not always evenly spaced. Variations in the time's at which the ware is set down by the forming machine, in slippage on the cone veyor, or from the removal of bottles for inspection cause wide variation in spacing. As a result, the ware 1s irregularly spaced 1n the leer, widely separated at some points, and

the conveyor and the spacings may be adjusted to the closest practicable A feature of novelty present in my invention is the provision of a stacker provided with'individual pushers for each row of arti- Y cles, each pusher being provided with its individual motive power and an individual trip operated by an article to be stacked to actuate its particular pusher.

The operation of each of the pushers serves not only to push the, articles of ware to its proper position on the conveyor, but also positions the tri ping means of the'next sue 'cee'ding pusher or cooperation with the next succeeding article.

My invention also embodies the novel features of the provision of a means, effective upon the operation of the last of the series of pushers, to effect the return of all of the \the leer belt;

of oneof the pressure mec pushers to their initial position. The arrangement of the individual pushers and their mounting permits a readyadjustment of the pushers laterally to controlthe spacing of the bottles which may also be controlled by removal of'i'ndividual pushers, this removal being accomplished with the minimum reor anization of the stacker.

y invention also includes the novel feature of permitting the number of rows stacked to be varied as desired without disconnecting any of the mechanism by merely looking out certain of the pusher mechanisms. Other features of novelty will appear from the following description ,and claims, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which;

Figure 1 is a plan view of one embodiment i of the mechanical features of my invention as applied in connection with a glassware conveypr or buck and a glass annealing leer;

ig. 2 is a side View, partly in elevation and partly in section, of one of the pusher mecha nisms and its connections, shown in-its operative relation with the conveyor or buck and Ff gs. 3 and pusher blades and trip operating mechanisms';

Fig. 5 is a section through the trip valve anisms; Fig; 6 is a detailed showing of the 4 are details of the parts of the 1 bleeder valves which are associated with and which operate the pusher return mechanism; and

Fig. I is a detailed showing of the pusher blade with the trip operating mechanism locked.

- Ingeneral, I have illustrated my invention as-embodied in a stacker S in association with a cross conveyor B and a glass annealing leer L having a conveyor belt adapted to carry the ware'through the leer. The cross conveyor B is of any suitable type adapted to receive ware to be conveyed to the leer and is mounted to move transversely of the direction of movement of the leer belt and H 22, of which is connected an up 1 contacts during the transversely of the cross conveyor. B and longitudinally of the leer belt. .One pusher 1S provided for each longitudinal row of articles in the leer and each pusher is provided with its individual air motor and trip valve. The trip valve of eachmotor is adaptedto be operated by contact of an article earned by the buck with a tripping arm at a position inline with the row into which it is to be pushed.

- he trip valve then operates the motor of of the pusher and causes the forward movement of the pusher blade to push the bottle from the conveyor .onto the. leer belt, this movement serving to carry an additional trip arm forwardly and into the position across the conveyor for contact with the next article, which in turn trips the next pusher mechanism. When the lastpusher operates to stack an article in the last row, the extension of that pusher blade operates a. suitable valve which exhausts air previously applied to the air motor of each of the pushers and applies air on the other side of each motor to return all of the pushers to their original positions.

Referring now particularly to the drawings,

L indicates a leer having a belt 7. B is a glassware conveyor of any suitable type mounted for continuous movement, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, transversely of the leer belt 7 Mounted on the frame 8 of the conveyor is a suitable plate 9 which overhangs the belt 7 and permits ware tobe slid without injury from the conveyor onto the leer belt.

If desired, and to assure proper contact of articles of glassware with the trip members hereinafter described, guide members 9a and 96 may be provided to direct the were on the cross conveyor to positions longitudi- "nally central of the conveyor.

having a rearward head structure and a forward head structure 16, these head'structures having depending portions 17 and 18 respectively which. suitably embrace the rails 11 and 12 to form a sliding support. Thus each pusher mechanism may be readily adjusted longitudinally of the rails to the de sired position and may then clamped firmly in position, as by set screws 19 and 20 TVithin each cylinder 14 is a piston. 23., the re member 23 to a pusher ble upon the rail 13. "he a replaceable member to properly spot the a blade. The blade 24 extends rearwardly of the connection with the member 23 and to its rearward end is pivoted a trip arm 27 which extends forwardly along the blade, as indicated in Fig. l. The outer end. of the trip arm is shaped, as indicated, and normally extends beyond the edge of the blade 24 in the direction from which the ware moves and the blade is provided with an upstanding contact member 28 which is adapted to contact with the stem of a trip valve, hereinafter to be described. As indicated in the drawings,-this upstandin member 28 may be integral with the arm 27 but I prefer to make the same removable and replaceable in order to permit difi'erent spacings of the several pusher members, as will be hereinafter described.

A pin 28-?) in the blade prevents excessive movement of the arm 27 toward the left.

In case two bottles arrive opposite the leer without adequate space between them, the

first actuates the'trip, which in turn actuates pusher P, for example; then as this pusher goes forward, it' carries its associated tri arm 27. The forward portion of the arm 2 is shaped as indicated, so that if the article which is to actuate it arrives in line with the pusher controlled thereby, prior to the completion of the extension movement of the preceding pusher, which carries the arm 27 in question, the forward angular edge of the trip arm 27 will come in contact with the article and will be moved to the right, thereby tripping the next pusher, which moves that article onto the leer belt.

The rearward cylinder head 15 of each pusher contains a control valve 29 controlling communication between passages 30, 31, and 66ain the head by which air may be admitted to and exhausted from the rearward end of the cylinder 1e. Air is continuously supplied to the passage 31 from a supply line 32, connection 33, and passage 3st in the cylinder head, and is supplied through the passage 66 in constant communication with the passage 31 to a pipe 35 which connects with the trip valve 36 formed in the forward cylinder head 16.

The valve 29' comprises a piston mounted in the cylinder 37, the weight of the piston being balanced by a light spring 38. The upper end of the cylinder 3? communicates by pipe 39 with the trip valve 36, and when that valve is open, premure from the source tween 8i and 30 to apply pressure to the rearward end ot the piston. ill. The

lower end of the cylinder 37 communicates il in lower by a pipe 0 with a I i i, to which :n of the lately admitted and exhausted by way of the pipes- 42 and 43, as hereinafter explained. The passage 41 communicates with the forward end of the cylinder 14 and alternatelyconduets air to and away from the forward end thereof.- v

, The trip valve 36 is of the poppet type, comprising avalve head 44 having a stem 45 adapted to contact with the member 28 of the trip member 27; The Valve is normally urged toward its seat by a spring 46. (See Fi 5.)

In or er to actuate thecontrol valve of the first pusher mechanism P, I provide a member 47 upon which a trip member 48, similar to the member 27, is pivoted, the members 47 and 48, however, being positioned constantly across the path of the ware. A'trip valve 49, identical in structure with the trip valves 36 of each pusher member and connected to the air supply pipe 32 by pipe 50, is connected by a pipe 39 to the control valve of the first pusher member P. v

Thus in operation, be inning with all of the members P, P, P and PN in their rearward or retractedpositions. the first of the series of articles to be stacked, moving contact with the article and thence with the article across the conveyor and the plate 9 onto the leer belt 7. As the bottle moves out of contact with the trip member 48, the trip valve 49 closes, but the position of the control valve 29 of the member P is not changed, the spring 38 being merely strong enough to balance the weight of the piston. Thus the blade of the pusher P remains in its forward position. in which position thetrip arm 27. carried thereby, is positioned across the buck for contact with the ncvt article. This article in turn trips the trip valve 36 of the mechanism P, which in turn operates the control valve 29 of member P, and hence the blade and trip arm of that pusher memher and so on, until all save the lastmechanism PN have been actuated.

The actuation of the last 'member PN serves to return all of the pushers to their original positions and to set the mechanism for another cycle of operations. This is acner upon the frame 10. Also mounted upon with thebleeder valve 54, and the rearward end thereof similarly communicates through pipe 60 with the bleeder valve 55. Constant pressure air is supplied from the pipe 32 by pipe 61 to the casing and inside of the holcommunicates by small passageways 62 and 63 with the forward and rearward ends of the casing respectively. Thus, when the bleeder valve 55 is open and the bleeder valve 54 closed, as is the case when the blade of the low piston 58.v The interior of the piston 58 mechanism PN is in the rearward position,

pressure builds up in the forward end of the casing 57 and forces the piston rearwardthis position, the valve opens communication between the pipe 43 and the atmosphere I through a port 64 and thus exhausts air from the forward ends of all of cylinders 14 and from the lower ends of all the control valve cylinders 37.

When the blade of the pusher mechanism PN is moved forwardly, the screw 52 contacts with and opens the bleeder valve 54, the stop screw 53 being removed from the bleeder valve 55 and permitting thatvalve to close. This causes a reversal of the position of the slide piston 58, closes communication between the pipe 43 and the vent 64 and -makes communication through port 65 between the constant pressure pipe 32 and the pipe 43. Pressure air thus passes to pipe 43, thence by the several pipes 42 to the forward heads 16 of all of the pusher mechanisms and from thence to the forward ends of the cylinders l4 and to the lower ends of the control valve cylinders 37. This causes an upward movement of the valves 29, opening the communication between the rearward end of the 66a and thus permits the return of the .pusher blades.

In Fig. 6, I have illustrated the detail of the bleeder valves 54 and 55, and the manner in Which these valves are opened by contact with the stops 52 and'53 is obvious from that figure and from Fig. 1.

Assuming that the mechanism is provided with a given number of pusher mechanisms, as for example fourteen, and it is desired to stack the articles in a fewer number of rows, as for example ten, but without changing the spacing between the articles, the first four mechanisms may be maintained in their for ward positions by merely locking the trip arms 48 and 27 of the first three mechanisms in their tripping position by pins 27-a inserted in holes 28-a in the member 47 and P is permanently positioned across the buck B and acts as the stationary arm 48, and all ofthe mechanisms to the left (facing Fig. l) operate as before. 7

If it is desired to change the spacing between the several rows of bottles, this may be readily accomplished in several ways. As shown, the pusher mechanisms as a whole may be separated by loosening the set screws 19 and 20 and sliding the parts to new positions, and unwanted pushers off to one side, the pipe connections between the several mechanisms being made flexible and of Suficient length to permit this. llhe unwanted pushers may be locked in forward position with the last unwanted arm taking the place and performing the function of the stationary member 47. Material variations of ,the spacing may necessitate variations in the contact faces of the trip arms 27, either those which contact with the bottles or those which contact with the valve stems of the valves 36.

Minor changes do not necessitate such changes as the shape of the tips of the pusher blades are such that they willautomatically correct the position of the articles during their forward movement.

The blades should be sufhciently'narrow to properlyspace the smallest article which it place and performs the function of the stationary member 47.

It is also obvious from what has been said that if it be desired to increase the space between the rows and also to reduce the number of rows, this may be accomplished also by removing one or more of the pusher mechanisins, respacing the remaining mechanisms,

and, making suitable pipe connections between the mechanisms on either side of those removed.

The'embodiment of my invention, herein shown and described is so shown and described merely by way of illustration, and obviously numerous changes in structural details and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

It claim:

l. A. lassware stacker comprising a plurality o pusher arms, means to move each of said arms, and means associated with an arm to control the movmg means of the arm next ad acent.

aware at a plurality of 2. A glassware stacker for use in connection with a glass annealing leer, comprising at least three pusher arms, individual means to extend each of .the arms, and means actuated by the contact of articles of glassware therewith to control each of said arm ex-' tending means. 7

3. In combination, a leer, a cross conveyor, and a stacker comprising a plurality of pusher arms and-meanscarried by an arm and positioned by the actuation of the arm to cause, in cooperation with an article of glassware, the actuation of the next succeeding arm.

4. In combination with a moving leer conveyor a glassware stacker, comprising a support, a plurality of pusher arms mounted thereon, and means for actuating the arms successively to stack Ware in rows longitudi' nally of the leer conveyor, said arms being mounted on said support for adjustment in a direction transverse of the path of travel of the leer conveyor to vary the spacing between the said rows.

5. In a glassware stacker, a plurality of interconnected pusher arms, means to withdraw certain arms from operation, and means associatedwith the withdrawn arm adjacent the first arm in operation to actuate said first arm.

6. A glassware stacker comprising a plurality of pusher arms, means to actuate each of said arms, means separate from said arms to cause the actuation of one or said arms, means associated with the last arm to cause the repositioning of all of the arms, and means associated with each of the arms except the last arm to cause the actuation of the next succeeding arm.

7. 'A lassware stacker comprising a plurality oi: pusher arms, means to successively move each of said arms to push an article to be stacked, and means associated with the last of said arms'to cause the retraction of all of said arms.

8. In combination, a leer conveyor, a cross conveyor for transporting articles of glassware extending transversely of said leer conveyor, means for stopplng said articles of conveyor, and means or moving articles from said cross conveyor and positioning them in predetermined relationship to each other transversely of said leer conveyor, said last-named means functioning independent ly of the spacing of the articles of glassware longitudinally of said cross conveyor. v

9. in, combination with a leer conveybr, a cross conveyor extending transversely of said leer conveyor, automatic means for successively stopping the movements of articlesof ware of a series thereof carried by said cross conveyor at a plurality of predeterminable points spaced at progressively varying distances across the leer, and automatic means oints on said cross actuated by the contact of said articles of ware with said stopping means for moving said articles of ware successively from said cross conveyor to said leer conveyor.

' 10. In combination with a leer conveyor, a continuously moving glassware conveyor extending transversely of said leer conveyor, means independent of said glassware conveyor for stopping the movement of different articles of glassware carried thereby at different predeterminable positions, and means to move each article of glassware from said glassware conveyor to said leer conveyor immediately after its movement is stopped, whereby the frictional contact between the article and the conveyor is minimized.

11. In combination with a leer conveyor, a cross conveyor extending transversely thereof, aplurality of retractible members adapted to extend across said cross conveyor for stopping the movement of articles of ware carried thereby opposite predetermined positions on said leer conveyor, and means carried by one of said retractible members for causing the retraction of a plurality of said retractible means. a

12. In combination with a leer conveyor, a cross conveyor extending transversely of said leer conveyor, means for stopping the movement of ware carried by said cross conveyor at predeterminable points transversely of said leer belt, one of said stopping means being permanently positioned transversely of said conveyor, others of said stopping means being \retractible, means actuated by' said permanently positioned stopping means to control one of said retractible stopping means, and means associated with one of said retractible stopping means to retract all of said retrac'tible stopping means.

13. In combination, a leer conveyor, a conveyor for transporting articles of glassware extending transversely of said leer conveyor, a plurality of pushing arms extensible across said glassware transporting conveyor, a member on each of said arms, means for successively extending said arms, the actuation of said extendin means being controlled b the contact 0 an article of glassware wit said member on an arm reviously extended.

Signed at Hartford, onnecticut this 25th day of November, 1929.

EDWARD H. LORENZ. 

